Three-year sentence for Ponzi scheme

The Oceanside woman who pleaded guilty in February to running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of nearly $7 million was sentenced to three years in prison by a federal judge last Friday, according to a report from the U.S. attorney’s office.

Laurie Schneider, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud at the federal courthouse in Central Islip in February and faced a sentence of up to five years. She was back in court last week for sentencing by U.S. District Judge Denis Hurley. In addition to her prison term, she agreed to pay her victims restitution and to forfeit $1 million to the government.

Schneider was arrested in 2010, four years after she began accepting money from investors seeking to earn profits in overseas machinery and equipment deals and real estate on Long Island. According to court documents, she used two shell corporations, Janitorial Close-Out City Corp and Eager Beaver Realty LLC, to steal money from them.

“Laurie Schneider played the part of a successful entrepreneur, willing to help others invest in equipment and machinery deals as well as Long Island real estate,” said Loretta Lynch, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “In reality, she was a con artist, using lies and false assurances to bilk unsuspecting investors out of millions of dollars. Schneider ran a classic Ponzi scheme, using investor money for her own selfish purposes. This office is committed to vigorously investigating and prosecuting individuals who are responsible for perpetrating financial crimes on the residents of our communities.”